Mexican mole is a meal all on its own

Until I made this recipe, I was intimidated by mole, by the idea of making mole, by the idea that I could make a good one. But thanks to Rick Martínez’s book “Salsa Daddy,” I learned that anyone can create a delicious mole, one that fills your home with the scent of a long-simmering sauce, fit for the center of a table. And this recipe is a stunner: velvety and reddish, with a soft nuttiness, gentle sweetness and warming depth. To make it, you’ll need some common pantry ingredients and about an hour of time.

Tomato-based salsas and guacamole might be Mexico’s most famous exports, but mole — made primarily in Oaxaca and Puebla — is arguably the most prestigious. “People are often intimidated by the ingredient list,” Martínez told me. “And I have mole recipes that call for 20, 30, 40 ingredients. That is intimidating, not to mention expensive. There’s a high degree of risk involved. If you do all of the work and mess something up, you’ve wasted a lot of resources.”

So Martínez, an award-winning cookbook author, chef and recipe developer, challenged himself to create “a low barrier of entry into mole making.” By stripping mole down to its essentials, he developed a recipe that is at once approachable, instructive and surprisingly flavorful. All of this recipe’s ingredients can be found in any American grocery store. You might already have many of them in your kitchen right now.

A mole often has a fresh element; here, that’s a tomato and onion. There’s typically fat or oil of some sort. Chiles are an essential ingredient, and though most moles call for more than one type, and sometimes as many as four or five different chiles, you only need anchos for this recipe.

Most, but not all, moles incorporate some sort of starch to give the sauce body. A lot of cooks use masa or day-old tortillas, but many Oaxacan mole recipes call for animal crackers, as Martínez does in this recipe. “Animal crackers are actually really popular in moles, because they’re easy to find and add sweetness. Some cooks even use Maria cookies, those digestive biscuits,” Martínez said.

Seeds and nuts are a mole standby; this one calls for almonds and sesame seeds, though swaps are easy to make, depending on what you have on hand or if you are accommodating an allergy. Dried fruit (raisins), spices (star anise or clove), liquid (vegetable or chicken broth), sugar (piloncillo or dark brown), and chocolate (bittersweet) are the final elements. They smooth out the sauce, add unmistakable pops of flavor or help round out the flavors of other, stronger ingredients.

“The difficulty in making moles is achieving balance,” Martínez said. “It’s very easy to add too much of one thing, whether it’s a spice or dried fruit. If you add too much sweetness, then you need to compensate. It can be complicated.” But this starter recipe is a way to get a handle on how that balance works. You’ll want to follow it to the letter in terms of quantities the first time you make it. That’s the best way to understand how each ingredient plays a part in the final flavor and texture.

“After you’ve mastered each step here, you can go on to make a 54-ingredient mole,” Martínez said.

The thing to keep in mind is that the mole is the dish, it is the point. You can simmer chicken or pork or vegetables into the mole, you can serve them atop a puddle of the mole, or you can serve the mole simply with warm tortillas for dipping and swiping through the sauce. The mole is everything. Once this idea clicks, it becomes so much easier to adjust and adapt this recipe to your liking. Maybe you’d like it spicier, maybe you’d like it sweeter, thicker, looser or more acidic.

“It’s like using an equalizer of sorts, to use an audio reference. You’re constantly adjusting levels to get everything completely in balance,” Martínez says. That’s cooking, and it’s maybe most apparent in the complex but absolutely remarkable Mexican dish known as mole.

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Mole Sencillo (Simple Mole)

1 medium Roma tomato (4 ounces), cored but left whole

¼ large white onion (3 ounces total)

5 tablespoons neutral oil, such as vegetable or avocado, divided

4 large ancho chiles (2½ ounces), stemmed and seeded

⅓ cup (scant 1 ounce) animal crackers

¼ cup (about 1¼ ounces) raw almonds

¼ cup (generous 1 ounce) raisins

1 whole star anise or 1 whole clove

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth, preferably low-sodium

1 tablespoon fine salt, plus more as needed

1 tablespoon grated piloncillo or dark brown sugar, plus more as needed

1 to 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds*

1¼ ounces bittersweet chocolate (75% or more cacao), chopped

Line a medium (10-inch) cast-iron skillet with a sheet of foil and heat over high heat until very hot, about 2 minutes. Add the tomato and onion, and cook, using tongs to turn occasionally, until everything is charred on all sides, 6 to 8 minutes for the onion, and 8 to 10 minutes for the tomato. (Alternatively, position an oven rack about 6 inches from the broiling element and preheat on HIGH. Arrange the vegetables on a foil-lined sheet pan and broil, turning occasionally, until charred on all sides.) Transfer to a heatproof medium bowl.

In a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat, heat 3 tablespoons of the oil until shimmering. Working in batches, fry the anchos, using tongs to turn and coat them in the oil, flipping a few times, until fragrant, browned and toasted on both sides, about 30 seconds total. Shake the excess oil off each chile before transferring to the bowl with the charred vegetables.

In the same oil, fry the animal crackers, tossing frequently, until golden brown and crispy, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the vegetables.

Add the almonds, raisins and star anise to the Dutch oven, and fry, stirring constantly, until the raisins puff and the almonds brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the contents of the bowl to the Dutch oven, then add the broth, salt, piloncillo and 1 tablespoon of the sesame seeds. Cover, reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, and cook until the chiles and almonds are very tender, about 30 minutes.

Remove from the heat and let sit, covered, for 20 minutes to cool slightly before blending.

Working in batches, as needed, transfer the mixture with its cooking liquid to a blender. (Fill the blender no more than halfway, and be sure to remove the center ring from the lid and hold a kitchen towel over the lid as you blend to prevent splatters. Alternatively, transfer the mixture to a heatproof bowl and puree with an immersion blender.) Blend until completely smooth, 2 to 4 minutes. Rinse and dry the Dutch oven.

In the rinsed pot, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat until very hot, about 1 minute, or until you see tiny wisps of smoke. Slowly and carefully pour the blended mole into the hot oil. (Stand back from the pot, as the contents will spit and sputter.) Stir, scraping up any fried bits from the bottom of the pot. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until the top of the mole is glossy and very thick, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the chocolate, then remove from the heat, stirring until completely melted. Taste, and season with more salt and sugar, if desired.

Top with the remaining 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds, if desired, before serving.

8-10 servings

Storage note: Refrigerate for up to 4 days, or freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Where to buy: Ancho chiles and piloncillo can be found at well-stocked supermarkets, Latin American markets or online.

*Notes: Spoon the hot mole over cooked chicken, pork, beef, fish, tofu or vegetables, such as cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli or squash. Or use it to make enchiladas or dressed-up nachos. If you have only raw sesame seeds, you can toast them in a dry small skillet over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until fragrant and golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Immediately transfer to a small plate and let cool completely.

Substitutions: For tomato, use red or orange bell pepper. For white onion, use yellow onion. For neutral oil, use lard. For animal crackers, use 2 tostadas or warmed corn tortillas. For almonds, use hulled pumpkin seeds (pepitas), sunflower seeds, cashews or peanuts. For raisins, use dried cranberries or apricots. For broth, use water. For chocolate, use 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder.

Nutritional information per serving (½ cup) | 165 Calories: 15g Carbohydrates, 0mg Cholesterol, 12g Fat, 4g Fiber, 3g Protein, 2g Saturated Fat, 758mg Sodium, 6g Sugar

— Adapted from “Salsa Daddy” by Rick Martínez (Clarkson Potter, 2025)